Sizzle 9, Bulldogs 1

Rapid City Sizzle shortstop Maddie Merriam fires across the diamond on Saturday during ASA action at the Scheels Rushmore Classic. The Sizzle soundly beat the Billings Bulldogs 9-1. (Kevin Cox/IDS)

Does good pitching lead into good defense, or is it the other way around?

Both aspects feed off of each other. When a pitcher is on, the defense gets more dribblers and easy fly outs from frustrated batters, making the girls in the field look like Gold Glovers. When a defense is locked in, those in-between hits get eaten up, bumping up the stat sheet for a pitcher and turning those near-hits into inning-ending outs.

If both a team’s defense and pitching are at their peak like they were for the U-18 Rapid City Sizzle on Saturday, well, it’s going to be a long, long game for their opponent. And it was just that for the Billings Bulldogs at the Scheels Rushmore Classic.

First they had to contend with Sizzle pitching ace Sidney Larsen.

With her oversized sunglasses hiding her eyes and possibly upping the intimidation factor in the process, Larsen had her way with the Bulldog lineup. She gave up just three hits in seven innings and never allowed more than four hitters to take at-bats in one innings. Larsen struck out four batters but also only gave up one walk.

Sometimes you see softball pitchers fall in love with trying too many junk pitches and changeups. Not Larsen. She’s one of those old school types of players that say, well I’ve got a devastating fastball, so try and hit it.

She relied on it Saturday and it was too much for the Bulldogs.

Following her complete game victory, Larsen was quick to point out the play of the defense behind her.

“It’s so relieving knowing I have a team to back me up, and I don’t have to worry about always throwing strikes,” Larsen said. “I can just rely on them making the plays, so when a ball’s hit to them I don’t worry at all.”

(Photos Kevin Cox/IDS)

She said her goal was simple for their second game of the tournament. “Just get my team grounders so they can get the outs.”

It’s a sound philosophy especially if you have the defense the Sizzle does.

There was third baseman Sara Wilson making two impressive diving stabs on sharply hit grounders that she made look routine as she scooped up the ball and gunned to first.

Shortstop Maddie Merriam sprawled out to her left for a lined shot in the fourth inning, and a plume of dust later, Merriam jumped up with ball in glove.

Later, Wilson came up with the play of the game. With runners on second and third in the fifth inning, Wilson scooped up a grounder, stared down the runner at third, and threw a rope to first baseman Bree Shanahan.

The runner left third, but not to be outdone, Shanahan wheeled and threw a perfect strike to catcher Erica Everson, who applied the tag for the huge double play.

Wilson, like Larsen, didn’t want to take credit for the win. Actually, she placed the win squarely on her pitcher and the girls behind her in left fielder Megan Hopkins, center fielder Rachel Solano and right fielder Marisa King.

“We’re really lucky to have such a fast outfield. That saves us a lot,” Wilson said. “Our pitcher always pulls us around. She gives us little grounders and popups that we need.”

The third baseman was also the star at the plate. Everson and second baseman Kate Mallinger knocked two-run base hits to give the Sizzle a 5-0 lead after one inning. Up 7-1 in the seventh, Wilson added the knockout blow.

With Merriam on base, Wilson cranked a two-run homer over the wall in left field that was helped out by a Sizzle parent.

“It was inside, and I finally turned on it,” Wilson said. “I was way ahead the rest of the game. Finally I listened to one of the parents and just took a deep breath and waited on it, and I turned and took it.”